Electronic Arts is pouring resources into the upcoming Battlefield game and that means some other projects may suffer from that decision. One of the games that is now rumored to be shelved is Dead Space 2 Remake. However, it was claimed that the reason was due to lackluster sales.
It is not particularly clear how many copies of Dead Space Remake sold. There seem to be conflicting figures online. A Wikipedia account said the game was the second best-selling title of January 2023 and the best-selling horror IP in the UK. However, no figures were given.
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A Steam community page claimed the game sold around 2 million copies which was below the 5 million target set by EA. In terms of review, the first Dead Space remake got lots of accolades and had over 33,000 reviews on Steam—and most of them were very positive.
Jeff Grubb of Giant Bomb recently said that EA and Motive had planned a Dead Space 2 Remake but canceled the project due to the poor sales of the first remake. Grubb made the revelation while discussing the development at Motive Studio in his recent podcast.
“They were working on Dead Space 2, and they are no longer working on it,” he said in the video published on Wednesday. “It is on the shelf because the first game had lackluster sales, is how it was phrased to me.”
However, a spokesperson for EA quickly denied Grubb’s claim saying, “We don’t normally comment on rumors but there is no validity to this story”. Jason Schreier of Bloomberg confirmed EA’s side of the story saying “Motive has been on other projects for nearly a year”.
However, it was revealed that Motive spent some months “conceiving ideas for a new entry in the series,” but they were not approved and “fizzled before they could get very far”, partly because the first remake missed internal targets.
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Grubb stood by his words. In a reply to a comment that EA has denied the claims, Grubb wrote, “I give you my permission to believe EA if you want, but whenever a company says “that isn’t true” but they don’t specify which part of the story they are talking about, well… yeah.”
“Dead Space 2 was definitely being planned. It had a code name. And they aren’t making it now,” Grubb added.
I've been through this so many times now that I kinda don't even feel it anymore. I'll never get over Bungie CEO saying "that didn't happen" and then the FTC filings leaking showing MS did consider buying Bungie. https://t.co/Q6uc4br4nV
— Grubb (@JeffGrubb) April 10, 2024
Motive is currently working on Iron Man and Battlefield games, not Dead Space
On April 9, Motive announced they will join Criterion Games, EA DICE, and Ripple Effect to work on the next Battlefield game. When asked by a user what that meant for Dead Space, Motive made no mention of Dead Space in its reply.
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“We will continue to operate as a two-project team, and we’re focused on the development of Iron Man and collaborating on the future of Battlefield,” Motive responded.
Honestly guys that’s a real disappointment. I’m sure those games will be great but dead space remake was immaculate. Sad we won’t see more.
— Jayden (@UnoLawd) April 9, 2024
Definitely looking forward to iron man from you guys but please don’t let this be the end of dead space , that remake for the first was amazing and would just love dead space 2 and 3 as well
— Javier Rodriguez (@spicyjavi) April 10, 2024
“The directors who delivered our Dead Space remake in 2023, Philippe Ducharme (Executive Producer) and Roman Campos-Oriola (Creative Director), will build a team at Motive to work alongside the Battlefield studios around the world creating what’s next for Battlefield– a universe across both multiplayer and single-player experiences,” said GM of Motive Patrick Klaus in a post announcing Motive’s integration into the Battlefield team.
“In parallel, development continues to move forward on our Iron Man project, led by Olivier Proulx (Executive Producer) and Ian Frazier (Creative Director). The team made excellent progress this year, hitting a major internal milestone and laying a robust foundation for the journey ahead. Iron Man is an important priority for Motive, and I’m very proud of the work we’ve accomplished so far.”
